This invention relates to air bags to prevent injuries from crashes to passengers, particularly children, riding in automobiles.
Air bags in vehicles that expand suddenly in the space between the dash board and passenger when a crash occurs have been shown to be an important means for preventing many deaths or injuries since their adoption by the automobile industry.
An ambiguity exists however in the operation of the bag which, on the one hand, requires great force by the expanding gas in order for the bag to expand very quickly and immobilize the passenger during the split second after the crash, but the passenger must not be injured by the force driving the rapidly expanding bag.
The consequence of this ambiguity has been that, although many thousands of drivers and passengers have been saved from injury and death by deployment of air bags, some passengers and especially children, have been killed when these bags have been deployed.
A number of disclosures have appeared related to the various designs of air bags intended to address the problem of air bag design especially devoted to the protection of children.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 57168995 to Lopez discloses a child""s seat for an automobile in which a safety shield attached to the seat is positionable in front of the child to protect against the force of the suddenly expanding bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,939 to Yamaji discloses an air bag having a diffuser that controls rate of expansion of the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,092 to Fischer discloses a child""s car seat with an air bag protection bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,726 to Pan discloses an air bag package designed in combination with a safety belt.
U. S. Pat. No. 5,931,498 to Keshavaraj discloses an inflatable air bag comprising two sections. One section is constructed with a pyramidal panel and the other section is constructed with a rectangular panel. The sections are joined and configured to conform to the shape of the dash board.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,485 to Hirai discloses an air bag structure including an outer bag having an internal cavity and an inner bag disposed in the cavity.
The problem with these examples of the prior art is that, when deployed and in use for their intended purpose, they over extend the safe distance for contact with the human face and body with a force that threatens the safety and life of the individual it is intended to protect. None of these disclosures accommodate the condition where the bag must protect various parts of the anatomy, each having its own requirements for protection in terms of the distribution of mass of the body v.s restraining force of the bag.
It is an object of this invention to provide an air bag whose dynamic action in terms of force and rate of displacement vary in various parts of the bag in order to accommodate parts of the passengers body that come in contact with the bag.
It is an object that the bag be adapted to the protection of children.
This invention is directed toward an air bag having an internal checkrein restraining construction that shortens the extent of the forward movement of the bag the air bag is deployed by a crash. The check rein construction comprises (in one embodiment) a front panel and rear panel, and are joined round their common periphery. The panels lay against one another when the bag is fully deflated. A tether inside the bag has one edge secured to an inside surface of the front panel and an opposite edge secured to the inside surface of the rear panel.
When fully inflated, the air bag of this invention assumes a bulbous shape with a concavity in its center so that the air bag xe2x80x9cWraps partially around the head and body as the air bag is deployed. The shape of the inflated bag including the concavity is selected according to the shape of the body or object (e.g., a small child) it is intended to protect.
In one embodiment, the tether has an elastic component that controls not only the rate and extent of expansion of the central area of the bag facing the face of the user, but also the rate of expansion of the peripheral areas of the bag.
The various features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, where